This 18-year-old striker is lighting up France

Ligue 1 looks like it might have a real title race this season, with Paris Saint-Germain dropping points in three of their last five games. Marseille’s real goal differential is two better than the Champions League winners, and their xGD isn’t trailing far behind (0.49 per 90 to PSG’s 0.54).

Marseille is keeping pace despite a slew of injuries, with 7 players reported out for Wednesday’s Champions League match against Atalanta. That includes two players who were expected to get regular striker minutes, Amine Gouiri and Timothy Weah. But their attack has been propped up by a youngster who has exploded out of nowhere.

Meet Robino Vaz, an 18-year-old attacker who has 4 goals and 2 assists in just 336 Ligue 1 minutes this season. Please enjoy the sizzle reel, complete with potato cam youth team highlights, because he’s a child who did not have much hype outside of his local bubble until this season.

A couple weeks ago, Vaz came off the bench at halftime against Angers and scored both of his team’s goals to win Marseille a point. The first was the result of an excellent team counter-attack, and he just had to be in the right spot in the end, but the second was all him. It’s a pretty ridiculous display of individual skill, athleticism, and shot power.

Vaz is definitely benefitting from sub effects, regularly farming stats from getting to run full speed during the entirety of some 15 minute cameos. His 4 goals and 2 assists have also come from 1.7 xG and 0.94 xGA, so those numbers will come back down to earth unless his shot and key pass volume go up considerably.

But Vaz’s dribbling and passing contributions outside of those goals and assists have been outstanding.

And those great performances in short bursts have earned him more playing time. After playing 20 or fewer minutes in his first 5 appearances of the season, Vaz has become a more important piece of the Marseille attack, making 3 starts and 2 longer sub appearances over his last 5 games.

As you might expect from an 18-year-old attacker getting his first high level professional minutes, Vaz can disappear from the game at times. When asked to be the lone striker in a 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 setup, he’s struggled. But when paired with a more experienced striker in a 3-5-2, his production has been outstanding.

Given that Igor Paixao and Mason Greenwood were rested at the weekend and don’t appear on the injury report anywhere, I’d expect Vaz to start on the bench against Atalanta on Wednesday. But if he comes on, you might want to turn your attention to that game. I’m really excited to see him get more playing time against top opponents.

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